For those who don't remember, Max Karson at the University of Colorado at Boulder wrote an opinion piece recently, "satirically" calling for a war against Asians, based on an encounter with an Asian student.
Sign the petition against his hate speech here.
The Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH) is underway in a campaign to strengthen the school's AAS program; they're also helping Columbia and NYU to plan the 2nd annual New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC). Our best wishes go out to CRAASH and their efforts. In solidarity!
They also have a kick-ass logo.
(Listen to CRAASH on Fallout Central here.)
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Students take a stand for Asian American studies
NEW YORK CITY, New York (February 27, 2008) – Students of the Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH) are gearing up to host a conference, entitled "Strengthening Education: Empowering Asian American Studies" in April. It will take place at Hunter College and will address the need for support for Asian American Studies in higher education. The conference will feature notable speakers, panel discussions, and a proactive workshop. Students will propose actions that college administrators must implement in order to strengthen Asian American Studies programs. It will be open to all college students who wish to learn more about this issue that affects both the academic community of Hunter College and New York City.
The conference stems from the concerns of CRAASH, a student-led group formed in April 2007 in response to the inadequate conditions of the Asian American Studies Program (AASP). Students have led a campaign on and off campus to fight for the education that they were promised when they entered Hunter College. Initiatives include a petition of over 1,000 signatures, a feature article on the popular AngryAsianMan blog, a front-page story in the Hunter Envoy, a successful AASP event with director Justin Lin, and a Facebook group that has rallied support from over 300 members from Hunter and other colleges. CRAASH also had a full-page article in the East Coast Asian American Student Union newsletter, which was distributed to over 1,200 students from over 100 colleges at their recent conference. The core members will facilitate an activism workshop at the 2nd Annual New York City Asian American Student Conference at New York University. Eyewitness News Education Unit and AsianWeek magazine may potentially feature their efforts.
Currently, the AASP lacks sufficient financial, structural, and institutional support from both Hunter College and the greater CUNY administration, rendering it unable to flourish as a true academic program. Although there have been vague promises from Hunter administrators, CRAASH has yet to see actual results. This spring, CRAASH will be contacting media, Asian American organizations, and student associations at other universities to spread awareness of the inadequate state of the AASP and organize support for proactive initiatives. Most importantly, CRAASH aims to ensure increased funding for a greater variety of classes, a stable office, full-time faculty members, a permanent director to lead the program, and space to conduct events that will engage and benefit the Hunter community.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco State College Strike, the longest student strike in American history that led the way for the development of ethnic studies. In keeping with the unwavering spirit of the strike, CRAASH hopes to illustrate that the fight for fairer representation of Asian Americans in institutionalized learning is not only significant, but also in demand. In order for future students to learn about a mostly forgotten legacy, and to inspire activism and pride amongst other students and their communities, CRAASH hopes for a secure AASP that will last far into the future. For a diverse college in New York City whose student population is 26 percent* Asian/Asian American, granting students the right to relevant and accessible education is the least Hunter College and CUNY can do.
About CRAASH:
CRAASH is dedicated to rejuvenating the Asian American Studies Program of Hunter College, as well as expanding the program to include a greater variety of courses. CRAASH aims to organize the Hunter community and spread awareness about the inadequate conditions of the AASP. Through petitioning, meeting with faculty, and promoting AASP events, we hope to educate the Hunter community about Asian American issues. To find out more, please contact us at HunterCRAASH at yahoo.com.
A little porno spoof starring David Henry Hwang, the guy behind the play Yellow Face and other such Asian American cultural works. Word is that the director of this movie Greg Pak is coming to our Intro to Asian American Studies class sometime this semester. Let's talk to him about this.
As addressed by NAASCon and AAM, the other CU -- not Columbia but Colorado -- bred outrage three days ago when it published the highly controversial op-ed, "If it's war the Asians want... it's war they'll get". The piece's author, Max Karson, narrates an encounter with an Asian individual ("The Asian") and the realization that the individual showed "hate. Pure hate" towards Karson, a victim of being lumped together with "whitebread, brainless tree sloths".
Karson's resolution to his epiphany ("They hate us all") is 'simple':
It's time for war.So remember when I said that David and I love parody?
But we won't attack their bodies or minds. We will attack their souls.
The hunt will then begin.
(Read the complete version here)
Well, we do, and this one isn't funny.
If you would like to send in opinions on this, please e-mail theblaaag@gmail.com.
Also read about Max Karson's troubled history here.
From an e-mail fwded by Saffiyah, our ex-BC Vice-Chair:
Dear MANAA & Other Asian American Allies,
I'm writing to ask for help in taking action against yet another example of racism and cultural ignorance.
My girlfriend and I were walking around the West Village of all places, and we came across Cowgirl (www.cowgirlnyc.com), a restaurant on 519 Hudson St. It is a restaurant with (awful online reviews and) the motto of serving authentic Texan food and having an authentic Texan attitude. In its display windows were elaborate decorations of Chinese New Year that correlated with its theme of serving Asian-influenced food for the celebration of Lunar New Year. I wouldn't be writing this email if I felt that the restaurant was honestly trying to pay tribute to the New Year, but what we found throughout the display windows were racist images that reminded us of all the degrading ways Asians have been misrepresented in the American media. There were words written in pidgeon English and in "chinky" letters. There were mannequins of Fu Manchu and Caucasians in yellow face. And like other decorations of bamboozlement, these were meant to be funny, innocent, and unintentional; but the result was demeaning, disrespectful, cheap and repugnant.
Now I've never been to the Texas myself, but most my friends from there are good people. The people of the Cowgirl restaurant might claim that they're only being true to their Texan attitudes to remain insensitive and ignorant, but knowing my Texan friends, I know that this is not an issue of what state you're from -- it's an issue of respect and human decency.
The images from Cowgirl can be seen in the links below:
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii116/suluseries /Cowgirl%20Racism/
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii116/suluseries /Cowgirl%20Racism/?albumview =slideshow
Hope to hear from you soon. I would like to know what we can do in educating the public about this.
In solidarity,Taiyo Na
Sign caption:
Confucius Say
East Meets West
Makes Love Go Round
Well, it looks like Angry Asian Man beat us to it. If you haven't heard already, last weekend's ECAASU introductory speech by Cornell University President David J. Skorton was less than impressive:
During his speech, he referred to the Asian American students attending the conference as immigrants, and claimed to have "a love affair with Asia." Yeah, definitely not the best choice of words. Apparently, the President's comments did not sit well with the conference-goers, because I [Phil Yu] have been getting emails like this all day.I distinctly remember the reaction after the speech: a lot of students were looking around incredulously, asking, "Wait. Did he just call us immigrants?" Later, a girl also stood up during Q&A with Jeff Chang, the second keynote speaker, and claimed that she was personally offended by the President's speech (as he sat in the front row in the auditorium, ouch). David was sending out private e-mails in an attempt to recover exact lines from the speech, but props to Phil Yu and all the proactive attendees for getting the word out first.
David:
Some details I've been able to scavenge...
The first speaker (a dean) also gave us a list of Asian countries that have produced the greatest number of international students for Cornell - China, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Singapore. One of the speakers also enchanted us with the story of the first Asian student at Cornell. (Obviously an international student.) He then went on to talk about the contributions of Asians to Cornell University, at which point most of us had either conked out or were viscerally pissed off at the guy.
A part of me wonders if they could have done their speeches better if they had just cracked open the program...
Marilla:
After reading an anonymous comment, I realized that our general sentiment towards ECAASU may be misunderstood (which is reasonable due to our lack of live-blogging during the conference and our harmful but habitual internet snarkyness). If this isn't clear - we had a cold-reckless-amusing-and-inspiring blast. Yes, the President's speech was unnerving (when the words finally sank in), and we questioned some of the conference's co-sponsorships; but ECAASU is one of the oldest APA conferences on the East Coast and is known to uphold an excellent tradition of spreading awareness. Our thoughts are merely for future boards (Rutgers in 2009) to keep up the good work, and (in line with David's comment) to confirm that university presidents read the conference program carefully before letting themselves get comfortable at the podium.
Check these out. One is funny, another well-intentioned... and the last is plain ridiculous. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
It's called Stuff White People Like.
Introduced to us by Nhu-Y, SWPL is formatted as an ongoing list of, well, stuff that white people like (mmm, race normativity). Each entry is a new item on the list, and each is chock-full of satirical logorrhea. SWYPL's writers spare their readers the agony of figuring out the point of this blog by leaving a refreshingly short and anthropological self-description:
This is a scientific approach to highlight and explain stuff white people like. They are pretty predictable.Now if parody isn't your thing, or if you are easily riled by anything racially suggestive / easily offensive (e.g. A Shot At Love), then avoid this site at all costs. It just so happens that David and I are South Park junkies, so we love parody and -- in recognizing the problematic practice of scientifically studying races -- love this shit. We hope against hope, however, that it really is parody that drives this blog.
Some favorites include:
#11 Asian Girls
#45 Asian Fusion Food
#62 Knowing what's best for poor people
#66 Divorce
Read, laugh, and enjoy.
Even though we were terrible with the whole live-blogging deal, here are some pretty pictures... Sorry, no pictures of Gary Okihiro (affectionately called G-yo) or from our workshops, but we were too lazy during workshops and you can probably see Professor Okihiro shopping at the frozen meat section of Fairway.
(Click on the captions for website links)
Audience (nearly 1,000 attendees) at the keynote speeches in Bailey Hall
iLL-Literacy (L-R: Adriel, Ruby)
Christina, Ryan, Patrick, and I arrive. We wait for the rest of the posse to leave Columbia. Some brief dialogue ensues as we sit in Room 392 of the Downtown Ithaca Holiday Inn, sick after three hours of Spongebob Squarepants:
Me: What should I say about our first day of ECAASU?The rest of the group arrives at midnight. We split into three rooms, meet various organizations, drink sour mix with liquor, spit rhymes (no match for D'Lo, iLL-Literacy, or Blue Scholars), and discuss the superiority of Tim Burton's Batman series over Joel Schumacher's.
Patrick: (miscellaneous mumbling)
Me: What?
Patrick: It was fucking ra.
Patrick: Except we haven't gone to Cornell yet.
Me: Um.
Me (to Ryan): What do you want me to say about ECAASU?
Patrick: It's the fucking shit!
Me: NOT YOU.
Patrick: It's absolutely ridiculous! It's off the hook! Fucking wasted!
Ryan: Say that my stomach hurts.
Patrick: Ugh, I really need to study.
